The short answer
Online store insurance protects a business that sells through its own website or through online marketplaces. The core pieces are product liability for goods you make, import or resell, cover for stock at home, in a fulfilment warehouse or in transit, and cyber cover for customer data and payment fraud. Importing and selling into the United States both change the conversation. A licensed broker matches the cover to how you actually source, store and ship.
- Makers selling their own products through a website or a marketplace storefront
- Resellers and private-label sellers importing goods from overseas suppliers
- Dropshippers and print-on-demand sellers who never handle the stock
- Sellers who keep inventory in a third-party fulfilment warehouse
- Canadian stores with a growing share of customers in the United States
3 licensed brokers in the network handle this. In Alberta, Canada, a request for online store insurance can be offered to up to three of them, chosen because they are licensed for this line and place. They are test brokers while we are in demo.
See the brokers → Outside Alberta, Canada you can prepare and save a request today; sending opens place by place. Brokers answer with their own quotes. Broker.insure does not quote, advise or take commission.
01 / What it covers
The parts worth understanding
Product liability
Claims that something you sold injured someone or damaged their property. Making, importing or putting your label on a product moves you closer to the manufacturer's position, and even a pure reseller can be named. Ask how the policy treats goods from suppliers with no presence in Canada.
Stock wherever it sits
Inventory in a spare room, a rented storage unit or a third-party fulfilment warehouse. A home policy rarely covers business stock, and a warehouse's own terms often limit what it owes you, so list every location and its usual value.
Goods in transit
Parcels lost, stolen or damaged on the way to a customer, and inbound shipments from suppliers. Carriers limit their own liability, so ask whether a policy picks up the difference and from what point the goods are yours to insure.
Cyber and payment fraud
A taken-over store account, stolen customer data, orders placed with stolen cards, or an email that redirects a supplier payment. Chargebacks from ordinary disputes are often treated as a business cost, so ask exactly which fraud events a cyber policy includes.
Importer of record
Bringing goods into Canada in your own name makes you responsible for the customs declaration, duties and the federal product safety duties that apply to importers. Insurance does not take over those duties, but a broker will ask about them because they shape your liability.
Selling into the United States
Customers in the United States can bring claims in their own courts. Some policies exclude sales there or need them declared separately, so tell the broker how much revenue ships south and whether any stock is held in a warehouse there.
Advertising and listing claims
Allegations that a product photo, description or brand name infringes someone else's rights, or that a listing made a misleading claim. Some liability policies include limited advertising injury cover, and intellectual property disputes are often excluded; ask what applies.
02 / Get ready
Bring this, and expect these questions
Gather
- A product list noting where each item is made and whether you make, import, private-label or resell it
- Supplier details for imported goods, including any test reports or safety certificates they provide
- Annual sales split by channel: your own site, each marketplace, and any in-person events
- Sales split by destination: Canada, the United States and anywhere else
- Every place stock is kept, with its usual and its peak value
- The fulfilment warehouse agreement, if you use one, especially its liability and insurance terms
- Marketplace seller agreements that set insurance requirements
- How you take payments, and whether card details ever pass through your own systems
- Any injury complaint, safety-related return or product you had to pull from sale
A broker will ask
- What do you sell, and do you make it, import it, put your label on it or resell it?
- Could any product hurt someone if it failed: anything electrical, edible, worn on the body or meant for children?
- Where is your stock right now, and how much sits in each place at your busiest time?
- Do you import in your own name, and whose name is on the customs paperwork?
- How much of your revenue comes from customers in the United States?
- Do any marketplace agreements require you to carry liability cover or name them on the policy?
- How do customers pay, and has the store had fraud, a hacked account or a run of chargebacks?
- Have you had a safety complaint, an injury claim or a product you had to pull?
Not sure of an answer? Leave it. "Not known yet" is a fine answer, and a broker will help you fill it in.
03 / Build your request
Answer a few questions. Get your own list.
Pick what fits. Your answers shape the list beside them, and they are saved to your request as plain facts a broker can read. "Not sure yet" is always a fine answer.
04 / Three situations
See which one sounds like yours
A small-batch skincare maker
A Saskatoon maker blends balms and serums in a rented commercial kitchen and ships about forty orders a week across Canada from her own website. Unsold stock, jars and packaging fill a closet in her apartment.
First steps. List each product with its ingredients, suppliers and labels, and estimate the stock value at the apartment and at the kitchen. Ask the broker how product liability treats skin reactions to goods she makes herself, whether her tenant policy reaches business stock, and what the kitchen's rental agreement requires.
A private-label importer using a fulfilment warehouse
A Calgary seller imports kitchen gadgets from an overseas factory under his own brand and keeps stock in a third-party fulfilment warehouse in Ontario. Two of the products plug into the wall, and a marketplace has asked him for proof of liability cover.
First steps. Gather the supplier's test reports, the customs paperwork showing who is the importer of record, and the warehouse agreement. Ask the broker how product liability treats electrical goods made abroad, whether stock at the warehouse is covered, and what the marketplace requirement actually asks for.
An apparel brand whose sales moved south
A clothing brand that started by selling to Canadians now ships more than half its orders to the United States. The owners are considering holding stock in an American warehouse to shorten delivery times.
First steps. Pull a year of sales by country and write down any plan to hold stock outside Canada. Ask the broker whether the current policy responds to claims brought in the United States, how stock held there would be insured, and whether a separate policy written there may be needed.
05 / Words you will hear
The jargon, in plain words
- Importer of record
- The person or business named on customs paperwork as responsible for imported goods, including duties and the rules for imported products. It can shift product liability toward you.
- Fulfilment warehouse
- A third-party facility that stores your stock and packs and ships orders. Its agreement sets how much it owes you if goods are lost or damaged in its care.
- Products-completed operations
- The part of a liability policy that responds to injury or damage caused by a product after it has left your hands. For an online seller it is often the heart of the liability cover.
- Chargeback
- A card payment reversed by the customer's bank after a dispute or a fraud report. Ordinary chargebacks are often treated as a trading cost rather than an insured loss.
- Territory clause
- The part of a policy that says where an incident may happen, or a claim may be brought, for the policy to respond. It decides whether foreign sales are protected.
06 / Common mistakes
What trips people up
- Assuming a home or tenant policy covers business stock in the basement or parcels waiting for pickup.
- Importing goods in your own name without realising the importer can carry the manufacturer's responsibilities.
- Relying on the fulfilment warehouse to insure your inventory without reading its liability terms.
- Letting United States sales grow without telling the broker, on a policy that limits claims brought there.
- Treating a marketplace's seller protection program as if it were liability insurance.
Ready when you are
Turn this into one clear request.
Save it, add what you know, and choose when to send it. A licensed broker who handles online store insurance takes it from there.
07 / Questions people ask
Straight answers
Do I need insurance to sell online in Canada?
Canada does not generally require an online seller to carry liability insurance by law, but marketplaces, fulfilment warehouses, wholesale buyers and landlords may ask for proof of liability cover in their agreements. Beyond those requirements, the question is what you would face if a product hurt someone or your stock was destroyed. A broker can show what those risks look like for your products.
Does product liability cover goods I only resell?
Resellers can be named in a claim alongside the manufacturer, especially when the maker is overseas and hard to reach. Many liability policies include products, but the wording, the territory and any exclusions for certain kinds of goods matter. Tell the broker exactly what you sell and where it is made, and ask how a claim would be handled if the maker cannot be pursued.
Is stock at a fulfilment warehouse covered?
Not automatically. A warehouse's agreement often limits what it will pay if your goods are lost or damaged, and a policy written for stock at your own address may not reach another location. List each warehouse, its address and the value you usually hold there, and ask the broker to confirm in writing that every location is included.
What is an importer of record?
It is the person or business responsible for goods entering Canada: the customs declaration, duties and taxes, and meeting the rules that apply to imported products. If you are the importer of record, you may carry responsibilities a manufacturer would normally hold. Check your customs paperwork to see whose name is on it, then tell the broker what you find.
Does online store insurance cover sales to the United States?
Some policies cover claims brought anywhere for products sold from Canada, some limit the territory, and some ask for sales there to be declared or rated separately. Claims in the United States can be costly to defend, so insurers ask about them closely. Share your sales split by country with the broker and ask how the policy treats a lawsuit filed there.
Is a hacked store account or card fraud covered?
A cyber policy may pay for investigating a breach, notifying customers, restoring the site and some fraud losses, depending on the wording. Ordinary chargebacks from disputed orders are often left as a cost of doing business. Ask the broker which events are included, whether social engineering is covered, and what the policy expects of your logins and payment setup.
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General information, not insurance advice. Broker.insure is a directory and request service: it is not an insurer and does not quote, bind or advise. Policy terms, availability and what is required where you live depend on your situation and on licensed professionals. Updated 2026-10-31.